


january - it's by your side i will stay

by woodchoc_magnum



Series: you can tell everybody this is your song [9]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Evan "Buck" Buckley, Bullying, Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Domestic Fluff, Established Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Maddie and Chimney are going to be great parents, Soft Eddie Diaz, Stoned Evan Buckley, Worried Eddie Diaz, Worried Evan "Buck" Buckley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:41:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26008189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodchoc_magnum/pseuds/woodchoc_magnum
Summary: "The good you do, every single day of your life, outweighs the mistakes," Eddie said quietly.Buck met his eyes uncertainly."That's why I picked you for my team. You're smart, strong and brave. Effortlessly heroic." He smiled at him. "I see you, baby. I always see you exactly for who you are."
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: you can tell everybody this is your song [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816843
Comments: 72
Kudos: 525





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go again! If you've never read this series, I recommend starting at May.

* * *

"Maddie," Buck said seriously, his eyes trained on his heavily pregnant sister, who was clutching a wad of paint samples. " _No._ "

She gestured to the pale blue nursery walls and hissed, "It's not right. We're having a girl."

A _girl_. "I thought you weren't finding out! I thought it was meant to be a surprise."

"Yeah, well… cat's out of the bag, Evan!" Maddie tossed the paint samples at him and waddled over to sit in the rocking chair. She looked around the nursery – which was almost finished, with all the furniture in place, toys and books arranged on shelves, clothes neatly folded and put away – and burst into tears.

Buck dropped to his knees in front of her. "Hey, now. Hey. It's all right," he said soothingly.

"It's blue," she sobbed.

"So?"

"She's a _girl._ "

"Enforcing gender stereotypes so early? You're better than that." Buck smiled up at her, and she managed a tearful laugh, wiping her eyes. "What's going on? Really."

Maddie's hands went to her belly, and she sniffled, looking around the room again. "I just… it's getting very close."

"Very close."

"And I'm so scared."

"What about? Giving birth?"

"No… being a mom," she confessed, swallowing hard. "Like… what if Chim and I… don't do a good job?"

Buck shook his head, smiling reassuringly at her. "There's not a world in which you're not a fantastic mother. It just doesn't exist. You're going to be great at this."

"You have to say that; you're my brother," she grumbled, reaching over to snatch some tissues. She dabbed her eyes and murmured, "Our mother isn't a good mother."

"Yeah, but you raised me, and I turned out great," he boasted. "Didn't I?"

"It took a while."

"Ouch," he replied, taking a seat on the floor at her feet. He stretched his legs out and leaned back on his hands, smiling up at her.

Maddie said quietly, "I just want everything to be perfect."

"Spoiler alert, nothing is perfect all the time."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You and Eddie?"

He grinned. "That's… still the honeymoon phase."

"No, you two are past that now." Maddie looked around at the walls again and murmured, "It just needs something. It's too blue."

Buck had a thought. "Hey – I might have an idea."

"If this is one of those god-awful pictures of Chimney and me and our precious angel that some photographer takes, and I'm walking around in a field of corn like some earth angel—"

"God, no," he protested, horrified. "Why – how would I even do that? No, I just… Eddie's sister Sophia is an artist, and she does murals for nurseries. She has an online store… I could get one for you to hang on the wall."

"Oh," Maddie said with surprise. "What kind of murals?"

"Um, like animals and stuff? Kinda funky, I guess. Christopher has one with all the different kinds of whales on it." He raised his eyebrows at her. "Just a thought… if you don't trust me to pick something out, I could send you the name of the shop. I'm sure Adriana would be able to get you a discount."

Maddie's face lit up. "She's _wonderful._ "

He chuckled. "Okay."

"No, we keep in touch – we have a Whatsapp now, where she sends me recipes and ideas for the baby and all sorts of things. It's been so nice. I haven't had a female friend like that in such a long time." Tears forgotten, Maddie was positively beaming. "All because I came over to Eddie's house and gave our parents a lecture."

"It was a damn good lecture," Buck said. "Great work."

"Thanks." Maddie rubbed her belly with satisfaction. "If you want to buy me a mural for the wall, I'll love it, no matter what it is."

"Says the woman who has changed the wall colour three times already," Buck teased.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going to get you back when you and Eddie start having kids together, you know. God, you guys are going to need a bigger house."

Buck nodded. "He's already house-hunting. We can't really afford it yet; we need to get married first and have the honeymoon."

"You'll be able to afford it soon enough," she replied. "You're turning thirty in a few months."

He shrugged. "So?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "So… your trust is coming in, when you turn thirty?"

Confused, he said, "My trust? I thought Mom and Dad would've put a stop to that. I haven't been counting on it at all."

"They can't put a stop to it," she replied bluntly. "You're entitled to that money. That money comes from our grandparents, not Mom and Dad. When you turn thirty, it will be given to you."

He gave her an uncertain look. "How much?"

"Mine was five hundred thousand; I'm guessing yours is the same."

 _Well._ That was a game-changer, for sure.

Five hundred thousand could do a lot. It could pay off their debts, it could serve as a huge deposit for a house, pay for their wedding and honeymoon… money wasn't tight, as such, but he and Eddie were both working extra shifts in order to cover the wedding and honeymoon and still have a chunk left over.

Five hundred thousand in six months' time would be life-changing. As much as he hated money – and he did; money had poisoned almost everyone he'd ever met growing up – it was only going to help them kick-start their life together. Maybe they would be able to afford a house in a nicer area than where Eddie was looking.

"Have you told Eddie about it?" she asked him curiously.

"I'd honestly forgotten about it until you just brought it up," he replied, chewing his lower lip. "I mean, yeah, I'll tell him – we've already joined our money together."

"Already?"

"Yeah." He blinked at her. "Why?"

Maddie shrugged and said, "Honestly, Chim and I are still separate. We're not even engaged yet… and you guys are just blasting through everything. Why?"

"Why not? Why wait? I love him; he loves me… we both know what we want. We're going to get married and have some kids. There's no reason not to do it."

"You didn't even really date," she pointed out.

He lifted his shoulders and said, "I'd known the guy for two years when he asked me out… and we did date, but… it's always been easy. I've never had to worry about impressing him or wonder if he likes me… everything just fell into place like it was meant to. And even though some of it has been hard, I've never worried about the me-and-Eddie side of things."

Maddie smiled at him. "I'm just glad you found the right person, and it wasn't that horrible Abby."

"She wasn't _horrible_ ," he objected. "You didn't even know her."

"I know enough, and she wasn't good enough for you. I'm not interested in anyone who treats you as something disposable," she replied with a scowl. "If I'd been here, I would've told you to dump her."

"You two would've gotten along great, actually."

"Nope. I can spot a user a mile away." She shifted in her seat, rubbing her belly, and said, "That's why I like Eddie. He's always had a special way of looking at you, like he treasures you."

"He _treasures_ me? Please don't ever say that in front of him; he'll die from embarrassment."

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "You know what I mean. Eddie's the right person for you. I approve."

Buck held up his left hand. "Thank god, otherwise I'd have to break off the engagement."

"Ha ha." Maddie leaned back in her seat, hands resting atop her belly, and said, "You're not inviting Mom and Dad."

"Nope. We're aiming for under fifty, but Eddie's family is pretty big. I don't really care about the wedding day," he confessed. "I'm planning the honeymoon."

"Oh that's right, stick Eddie with harder job."

"He's more organised than I am."

"He's also a _man_ trying to plan a _wedding_ ," she pointed out. "Small though it may be. You guys have already left it pretty late."

He made a face. "Late? There's seven months to go."

"And you want to book a venue in Los Angeles in six months for a summer wedding," she said, and scoffed. "Good luck."

He shrugged. "We don't want anywhere fancy. We just want to get married and have a party."

"And Eddie's family is still on board with this? His parents?"

"Yeah, so far, so good. Adriana assures us that she has them in line. I told Eddie it would be okay." He picked at the carpet, remembering the trust fund, and murmured, "So you really think I'm going to get the money?"

"Most definitely. You should get a letter from a lawyer in the next few months. It was a firm in Philadelphia. I don't remember the name."

He nodded thoughtfully. "With the money we could afford a surrogate."

"Exactly," she replied, raising her eyebrows at him. "This is for your future. And you don't have to feel bad about it or guilty – our grandparents weren't like Mom and Dad, you know."

"I don't remember them." They'd died when he was still a toddler.

"I do. They were nice. They had a big house with an apple orchard in the back," she replied, closing her eyes briefly. "I used to think it was like a magical fairyland. I remember them being nice, and honestly, I'm not interested in digging too much deeper into that. I'll keep my memories the way they are."

Buck smiled at her. "I'll take your word for it, then."

~

Having successfully talked Maddie off the room-painting ledge, Buck returned home to find it in a state of chaos – Carla grabbed him at the door and hissed that Eddie was cooking, from scratch, and the kitchen was a disaster. She then promptly fled, and that was when he discovered that Christopher was covered in flour, there were flour footprints from the kitchen to the living room and the kitchen looked like someone had dropped a bomb on it.

"I was gone for two hours!" he exclaimed. "What happened?"

Eddie expelled a breath. "I got a call from Lauren – you know, Sarah's mom – and apparently everyone needs to bring something for this bake sale tomorrow and I didn't know it was happening, but she told me it was in the newsletter but I lost the newsletter, and—"

"You're making cupcakes?"

There was a tray of sunken-in, sad looking cakes on the table. Eddie said unhappily, "Yep."

"Can I help? I think… you might've left out an ingredient. They're not meant to be flat."

"I need to do it," he replied firmly, holding the wooden spoon up. "I've got this."

Buck leaned against the wall, trying not to laugh. "You could just use a packet mix."

"She told me it had to be homemade, from scratch," he said, a little desperately. "So that's what I'm doing."

"Packet mix is at home from scratch," Buck pointed out. "Babe, I'm pretty sure you left out the baking powder."

"What the hell is baking powder?" Eddie grumbled, flicking through his recipe again. "It says… baking powder. I didn't even see that." He pressed a hand to his head, groaning when Buck pulled him into a hug. "I have to do this."

"I'm not stopping you. Just let me look at the recipe."

"It's been a _disaster_ ," Christopher remarked from behind them. Eddie shot him a withering look. "I told Dad to call you."

"I'm not real good at baking either, kiddo." Buck examined the recipe on Eddie's iPad and said, "Well, we don't even have baking powder in the house, and… you're using the wrong sugar."

"I am?!"

"Yeah, babe, this is powdered sugar, you need granulated." Buck kissed Eddie's cheek. "How about I make a quick run to the grocery store to get what you need, and then—"

"Just get some packet mixes," Eddie said glumly.

"No, we can do this. We're firefighters. Yesterday we scaled a building. We can make some cupcakes." Buck turned to Christopher, who nodded firmly at him. "You clean the kitchen, and I'll get the stuff, and Christopher is in charge of decorating."

Eddie relaxed against him, closing his eyes, letting Buck kiss his cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too. Let's do this."

~

Buck filled up a basket at the supermarket and then paused in the decorating aisle, grabbing some bits and pieces to add to the cupcakes. He was back at his car in less than fifteen minutes when he spotted a blonde teenager crying near his Jeep, wiping her eyes, while her dark-haired friend struggled with a tyre.

"Hey," he said to them, stopping a few metres away. "You guys need a hand?"

The blonde girl glanced at him tearfully. "My mom is gonna kill me."

"We're going to fix it!" the brunette said enthusiastically, still trying to yank the spare tyre out of its spot in the trunk of the car. "Everything is going to be fine!"

Buck said, "I could put the tyre on for you. Or at least help you lift it."

The brunette eyed him, and then asked suspiciously, "What's in the bag?"

He snorted, having no idea what that would prove. "Uh, baking ingredients? My fiancé is trying to make cupcakes for the first time and he's having a meltdown."

"He's _gay_ ," the blonde hissed to the brunette. "It's fine."

Buck pointed to the LAFD logo on his t-shirt. "And I'm a firefighter, so… gay and a firefighter, you guys are safe."

"Oh yeah?" the brunette demanded, lifting her chin up. "What station?"

"The 118," Buck replied, opening the back of his Jeep to store his groceries.

"He could've made that up," the brunette said to the blonde.

The blonde groaned and said, "Daisy, he's got no reason to lie! It's daylight, there's people around – what's he gonna do? Like, honestly! You're so suspicious of everyone!"

"And now he knows my name!"

"Ladies, listen, I can just leave you guys alone," Buck said, holding his hands up. "I've got dozens of cupcakes to bake."

The blonde pointed to him, tilting her head to the side. "Oh my god," she said. "I know you! You're – you're that hot firefighter! The one that went viral! Daisy! The birthmark, remember? Ohmigod we thought you were so cute, _oh my god_."

Daisy pushed her hair off her face. "Oh yeah," she agreed, and flashed a toothy smile. "Hey man! Yeah, awesome, we would love your help."

Buck gave a good-natured laugh. "All right, just let me text my fiancé and let him know I'll be a few minutes late," he said, quickly sending Eddie a text.

"Your fiancé?" Daisy asked. "The other hot firefighter, right?"

"Yep, the hottest," he replied easily. "We're getting married in July."

Both girls swooned at him, and he was laughing as he freed the tyre from the trunk. "You're so strong," the blonde gushed. "I'm Danielle, by the way. Thank you so much."

He grinned at them. "Not a problem, ladies."

They clutched each other, following him around to the driver's side tyre, which was entirely flat. There was a tell-tale scrape on the hubcap.

"Let me guess," Buck said, kneeling to unclip the hubcap. "You took a corner too fast and scraped, and didn't realise that you'd popped the tyre as well?"

Danielle winced. "Kinda? I've only had my licence for a week.This is my mom's car."

"So this is what you're going to do," he instructed. "I'll put the spare on. There's a tyre place a mile down the road – the guy that owns it is a big guy with a beard, his name is Phil, but he's a softie. He'll see you two girls and fall all over himself for you – nothing creepy; he's a nice guy. Just go down there and tell him what happened, he'll pump up this tyre and swap them back over. If you're worried, tell him Buck sent you, all right?"

Daisy was frantically taking the information down in her phone. "He'll seriously help us out?"

"Yeah, you've got…" Buck checked his watch. "Like an hour before he closes. It'll take him no time at all. Here, let me swap them over for you and get you on your way."

It took him less than fifteen minutes to switch the tyres over. He even placed a quick call to Phil, telling him to expect two teenage girls in a shiny red Lexus they probably shouldn't have been driving, and sent them on their way. As Danielle was backing carefully out of the parking space, Daisy leaned out the window and said to him, "Hey, it's Buck, right? From the 118?"

He nodded, waving to them. "Yep. You know where to find me."

Daisy grinned at him. "Thanks for everything, hot stuff!" she shouted.

He was still laughing as he drove home.

~~

"Oh thank god," Eddie said with relief. Buck was back, loping up the footpath with two bags of groceries. Once he was inside, he couldn't help but demand, "Do you have to be such a good Samaritan all the time?"

Buck grinned at him. "They were teenagers! All in a day's work. Did you clean up?"

"Yes," he grumbled, but relented when Buck leaned in to kiss him.

"Where's our sous chef?"

"He's having a bath." Eddie followed Buck into the kitchen, watching as he laid out groceries in order on the counter. "What's all this?" he asked, picking up the bottles of sprinkles and food colouring.

"We're getting fancy," Buck replied, washing his dirty hands in the sink. Eddie nuzzled in against him, pressing his fingers against the small of his back, and murmured, "You want to run this thing, Buckley?"

Buck guffawed. "We put you in charge and it's chaos. You and Chris are going to do the decorating. I'll do the baking. All you have to do is make the icing, Eds. That's it. I think you can do that."

"I don't think I can do it," Eddie replied honestly, but Buck merely smacked him on the butt and pushed him toward the electric mixer.

"It's powdered sugar, milk and butter," he said. "Easiest thing in the world."

~

Two pizzas, four beers between them and three hours later, they had thirty-six slightly wonky homemade cupcakes. Eddie was so proud he could almost cry, even as he had to gently bat Christopher's hands away before he could steal one for himself.

"Looks good," Buck said, a smear of icing on his cheek. "Let's box these bad boys up. You're going to crush it at school tomorrow, Chris."

"Awesome," Christopher said, reaching for a cupcake, groaning when Eddie pushed his hand away again. "But Da- _adddd_ …"

"No buts, it's late, time for bed," Eddie said, steering him out of the kitchen. "Wash your hands and brush your teeth."

"Okay," Christopher agreed, starting down the hall to the bathroom.

Eddie returned to the kitchen, where Buck was already starting the dishes. "I'll do that," he said, patting his back. "You put him to bed."

"Okay," Buck agreed, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "You're doing the drop-off tomorrow, right?"

"Yep."

"I'll swing in at the deli and pick you up a breakfast sandwich; have it ready for you when you get to work," Buck offered. "Sound good?"

"That sounds _great_ ," Eddie replied gratefully. "You know I'm going to get stuck there for a while with all the other parents."

"Say hi to Debra for me; she's my favourite," Buck said sarcastically, and disappeared down the hallway. Eddie heard him say a moment later, "Oh my god, are you for real with those shiny teeth? Get out of here!"

He chuckled, running the water in the sink.

Things were good. Things were really, really good. They'd decided on July for the wedding but hadn't made any other decisions, other than already booking accommodation in Hawaii for the honeymoon. Buck was much more interested in planning the honeymoon than he was the wedding, so the wedding was Eddie's responsibility. He wasn't thrilled about that, had no idea where to start and found it completely overwhelming, but he'd said that he was going to do it, and so he would.

His last wedding had been arranged quickly, but with all the traditional bells and whistles (a church with a priest, the big white cake, the big white dress, the first dance to a song that Shannon chose, and he couldn't even remember the name of it anymore – and had never heard Buck play it). He wanted something different this time, _special_ , that he had input into and it wasn't just his mother taking over. They both wanted something relatively small, possibly in an outdoor setting, with lots of food and all their friends and selected family members around. Buck wanted them to write their own vows and most importantly choose all the music, so Eddie left him in charge of that.

Eddie had joined Pinterest and had a group chat with his sisters, where they sent him constant ideas and suggestions, but other than some hastily scrawled ideas on a notepad, he'd done practically nothing and was trying not to panic about it.

The dishes were done and put away when Buck returned. Eddie was sipping a cup of tea at the dining table, scrolling through his Pinterest boards, searching for some more inspiration, when Buck slipped into the seat across from him and rubbed his eyes.

"Hey, I've got something to tell you," he said. "Kind of important."

Eddie switched off his iPad and regarded him seriously. "What's up?"

"So… I kinda forgot about this," Buck admitted. "I'm entitled to a trust fund when I turn thirty."

"Oh. A trust fund… really?" Surprised, he sat back in his seat, gazing at Buck curiously. He'd honestly thought trust funds only happened in the movies.

"Yeah, my grandparents were wealthy as well. Maddie said that hers was worth half a million; she expects me to get the same."

His jaw dropped. "Half a million… dollars?"

"No, half a million rubies. Yes, dollars."

"Half a million rubies would still be pretty good though," Eddie pointed out. "We could be dripping in rubies."

"Simply dripping in them," Buck added, grinning at him. "But no. Dollars. American dollars."

"Okay. So… when you turn thirty, you're getting half a million dollars."

"Yeah, she said I'll hear from a lawyer at some point in the next few months to talk about how it gets distributed." Buck raised his eyebrows at him and said, "It could be good for… a few things for us. Like… paying off your car."

Eddie shook his head. "It's your money."

"No, it's our money. For our future. For… a house, and a baby…" Buck trailed off. "You know."

"You're not paying off my car."

"I'm probably gonna pay off your car, Eds." Buck rested his head on his hand, gazing at him. "It could be good. Set some aside for Christopher, for college. That kind of thing."

Eddie nodded, surprised and a little concerned. "You hate money," he said. "And you hate your parents' money."

"This isn't from them; this is from my grandparents. It's different. I mean, it's still… not great," he acquiesced, "but I never knew them. So I can live in denial a bit."

He thought about what that kind of money could mean for them – stability and security. A new, bigger house. A college fund for Christopher. The freedom to take a holiday without needing to scrimp and save for it.

Buck was studying him. "We're getting married," he said, and waved his ring at Eddie. "You proposed. This is our future."

"Yeah, I know, I know, I just… I don't want to feel like I owe you anything."

"Owe me anything? It's our money," Buck said quizzically. "We joined everything together. This money will come into our joint account. It's yours as much as it is mine."

"Yeah, but we never… talked about, like… what if one day you want to buy a motorbike?"

Buck snorted. "A motorbike."

"Yeah. And do you… ask for my permission to do that or do you just do it?"

Buck tilted his head to the side. "For a big purchase, I'd talk to you first. But Eds, motorbikes are death traps and I don't want one. You didn't see the guy… the guy that was cut in half… you weren't there for that." He shuddered and looked away. "That was one of the worst things I've ever seen."

"No motorbikes then."

"No way. But I thought the deal was we talk to each other about big purchases, so… this would be the same thing. Right?"

"Right," he agreed. "Okay."

"You don't have to feel weird about this. It's not like you're with me for my money."

Eddie grinned. "You caught me in the long con. I knew you were gonna get an inheritance—"

"Trust fund," Buck corrected.

" _Inheritance_ , and I've just been playing you, and now I'm going to walk away with it."

"I know you're joking, but I hate it," Buck replied, leaning over to take Eddie's hand. "Don't joke about that."

"Aw, baby," Eddie teased, rising from his seat and rounding the table to slide into Buck's lap. "You're my man."

"Damn right." Buck rested his head against Eddie's chest and hugged him. "It could be good though, Eds… the money. We were talking about surrogacy; it's not cheap."

"No," Eddie murmured. "It's not. There's a new house to think about, and Christopher's future as well… and college for our kids."

"Yeah." Buck ran his hand up and down Eddie's back. "So we're not going to feel guilty about the money."

"No. But we also won't tell anyone," Eddie suggested. "Especially my parents."

"It's none of their business anyway." Buck tilted his head slightly, pressing a light kiss to the exposed skin above Eddie's collar. "I'm beat. You want to go to bed?"

He nodded, brushing a kiss to Buck's cheek before rising to his feet. He went into the kitchen to rinse his cup while Buck flicked off the lights, and a moment later he was pressed up behind him, nosing against his ear.

"Come on," Buck whispered. "Bedtime." He slipped a hand under Eddie's shirt, sliding up his chest.

"Okay, okay," Eddie whispered back, turning around in his arms. "Give me a goddamn minute."

Buck smiled at him. "You were such a disaster today."

"Shut up," he groaned.

"I love it. I love you."

"I love you too." Eddie glanced over at the containers of cupcakes and said, "You saved the day. They even taste good."

"I know right? Might have to take myself out of the firefighting game and open a bakery."

"Get all fat and squishy…" Eddie grabbed one of Buck's hips, trying to find any loose skin, and failed. "Damn it, you are rock hard."

"I know. Got to keep myself looking good for you," Buck replied, and lifted Eddie up into his arms. "Come on, hot stuff. Show me a good time."

~~

"Buck," Bobby called, as Buck climbed the stairs to the balcony, his and Eddie's breakfasts in a bag in his hand. "My office. Now."

"Uh oh," Chimney teased.

Buck gave them both a look. "What'd I do?"

"You must've done something," Hen replied, raising her eyebrows at him. "Hey, what's in the bag?"

"Breakfast," he replied smugly. "None for you."

"Jerk," she teased, and when he stuck his tongue out at her, she gave him the finger.

Buck followed Bobby into his office, glancing at him with surprise when he shut the door firmly behind them. "Cap, did I do something wrong?"

"Sit," Bobby said, gesturing to the seats across from him. Buck set the food down on one and took the other, wiping his palms on his trousers nervously. "Listen – I need you to do me a favour."

Buck tilted his head to the side. "Okay."

"I need you to stay back at the station today and go through some paperwork for me. Ordinarily I'd ask Chim, but he's not a hundred percent here right now," Bobby said, casting a look out at Chimney, who was staring at his phone. Impending fatherhood had him permanently distracted.

"What kind of paperwork?"

"Basically, stuff that I should've done a couple of months ago and didn't, mostly because I was dealing with _your_ mess," Bobby said pointedly. "Workplace health and safety stuff – you know, the kind a fire marshal like yourself should excel at."

Buck didn't _want to_ , but if he ever wanted to be a captain one day, then it was something that he was going to have to learn. "Okay," he agreed. "I can do that."

"Great." Bobby turned around in his seat, picked up a stack of papers from the shelf behind him, and whirled around again, presenting them to Buck. "Here you go."

Buck's jaw dropped. "This is… a lot, Cap."

"Yep."

"You've really slacked off here."

"In my defence, a lot of the last couple of months has been sorting out the fact that two of my firefighters inadvertently went viral," he replied, folding his arms across his chest. "That was time-consuming."

Buck winced. "Again, sorry."

"Not your fault. And listen, do not tell the others, but if you do this for me, I'll make it so that you and Eddie have a weekend off together in the next couple of weeks. Deal?"

"Deal," he said instantly, reaching for the paperwork. "So I've just gotta read it and fill it in?"

"That's it."

"Done. Easy. Super easy."

~

He set up at the dining table – Chimney snickered at him for a while, hanging around, trying to make life difficult, but when Maddie called he disappeared, the phone to his ear, the very picture of a worried, expectant father. Eddie arrived soon after and took a look at Buck, surrounded by paper, and said, "What the hell have I missed?"

"Buck's got homework. He's staying here today," Hen said from the couch.

Buck glanced up at him. "Your sandwich is in the fridge; you just need to heat it up in the press."

"Awesome, thanks." Eddie pressed a kiss to his temple and leaned over to examine the paperwork. "Workplace health and safety stuff?"

"Yep." Buck turned his head and said into his ear, "We're getting a weekend off if I do this."

"That is a sweet fucking deal," Eddie murmured back, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "We'll book something, just the two of us."

"Yep." Buck smiled up at him. "How'd the cupcakes go?"

"Great," Eddie replied enthusiastically. "They were a hit. Christopher was very pleased. There's a new kid in his class though, kind of a big kid? Taller than the rest of them. Christopher and his friends were giving him a wide berth; not sure what that's about."

"We can ask him."

"Yeah, I asked Debra—"

"Ugh, _Debra_ ," Buck groaned, rolling his eyes.

Eddie flashed him a grin. "Yeah, your favourite. I asked her and she said he's only been in class a week, transferred from Michigan? The teacher is having trouble with him fitting in. Honestly he looks a year or two older than the rest of them so I wonder if there are some learning difficulties or something like that."

"Maybe. Maybe he's just hitting puberty early; had a growth spurt," Buck replied.

"Maybe. I don't know." Eddie stood near the sandwich press, checking his watch. "Anyway, the cupcakes were a hit, and Christopher has been invited to a birthday party next month, so we need to go present shopping."

"Oh great, fun," Buck replied happily.

"For the _kid_."

"Yep, sure." Present shopping meant toys, and Buck loved toys.

Eddie shook his head at him. "Seriously, I let you off the leash at Target and it's game over for your credit card."

"I'm completely in control of my spending," Buck replied. "Totally got a handle on it; nothing to worry about."

~

The rest of the team was called out to an emergency, but Buck stayed behind, bored out of his brain but determined nonetheless to get through the mountain of paperwork.

He was on his second cup of coffee when he heard a female voice call from below, "Um, hello?"

Buck stood and went to the balcony. "Hello?"

There stood Daisy and Danielle, the two teenage damsels-in-distress, looking around in awe. "This place is huge," Daisy said, hitching her backpack up on her shoulder.

"Don't tell me you two have found yourselves in more trouble," Buck said as he descended the stairs. "What are you doing here?"

"We wanted to say thank you so much," Danielle gushed, exchanging a look with Daisy. "That nice man at the tyre place only charged me twenty bucks."

"He's a great guy; I told you so."

"We brought you this," Daisy said, holding out a plastic-wrapped brownie. "We made it especially for you."

"Just one whole brownie?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

"Well we kinda ate the rest," Danielle admitted. "But this one is yours."

"Thanks," he replied, taking it from them. "That's nice of you."

"Make sure you're like, at home when you eat it," Daisy said, raising her eyebrows at him. "It's a really good brownie."

He made a face at her. "Why, you think I won't be able to contain myself at work for this brownie? I might lose my mind?"

"Something like that," she replied. "Thanks again, hot firefighter dude."

"Is your hot husband here as well?" Danielle asked, looking around the empty station.

He laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "No, he's out on a call, saving lives. You know how it is."

"Damn," Daisy muttered. "Okay. We're meant to be at school, so we're gonna go."

He checked his watch. "You guys are extremely late."

"Free period," Danielle said, at the same time as Daisy replied with, "Yeah, it's a late start."

"Mmm, so you're what, skipping out on math? Sport?"

They exchanged a look. "Art," Danielle said, and made a face. "Our teacher is horrible."

"Well, you better go then," he said, shooing them away. "Get to school; get good grades, go to college, that whole thing."

"Is that what you did?" Daisy asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

He shook his head. "Nope, I dropped out, fucked around and ended up a firefighter, but it turned out to be the right path for me. Not for you guys – go to school. Don't wreck your mom's car again."

They waved to him as they started out of the station, giggling and nudging each other. Buck examined the brownie and shrugged, taking it upstairs. As he reached the balcony his phone rang, and Eddie's picture flashed on the screen. "Hey babe," he greeted him. "What's up?"

"We're not going to be back for a while," Eddie said. "We've got to assist with clean-up. Cap wants to know if you'll order lunch for everyone while we're out."

"Sure, what does he want me to order?"

"Sandwiches. From your deli guy."

Buck could practically _hear_ Eddie grinning through the phone. "My deli guy doesn't deliver, and he's a one man operation, and I'm not going to… actually, if I call him now, that'd be a pretty sweet deal for him. He'd get a lot of business. All right, no problem. Mixed sandwiches. What do you want for yourself?"

Eddie was grinning again, for sure. "Hot and spicy, you know me."

"Yeah, I know you, hot stuff. All right, it'll be ready and waiting when you guys make it back."

He hung up, looking at the brownie, and thought to himself that it would make a nice afternoon snack.

~

Buck was about halfway through the paperwork when they arrived. He'd already cleared it off the table and laid out the sandwiches and other assorted treats – his deli guy was so fucking pumped about the order, he'd thrown in two trays of fresh cookies for free – and when the team made it up the stairs, he ran through their options while surreptitiously handing Eddie his own special sandwich.

Hen missed nothing. "How come Eddie gets his own?"

"Because Eddie has his own special order."

"Favouritism," she said, rolling her eyes.

Buck grabbed his lunch and joined Eddie on the couch, leaning up against him. "How was it this morning?"

"Bit of mess," Eddie replied. "The gas leak ignited before we got there, so the gas station was well alight. We managed to get it under control at the end. Hey, the 136 responded as well – I was talking to Lena. She was giving me shit about how she knew I was in love with you because I lost my mind during the whole… lawsuit thing."

"Wise woman," Buck remarked. "But you were more pissed at me than anything else."

"Yeah, I kinda feel bad… after she went back to the 136, I… stopped staying in touch." Eddie glanced at him guiltily. "I kind of used her."

"Seems like she called you out on that, and it also seems like there were extenuating circumstances."

"Extenuating circumstances, huh." Eddie bit into his sandwich.

"Yeah, that whole… fight club thing that she introduced you to, for one. Like, maybe don't introduce the guy with anger issues to a fight club. Maybe therapy would've been a better choice."

Eddie's eyes flared, and he turned to Buck, chewing rapidly. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, do you think if I'd been there you would've ended up at a fucking fight club?" Buck arched his eyebrows at him.

"No…"

"Then?"

"You wouldn't have suggested therapy either," Eddie pointed out, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "You don't like therapy."

"It's not effective for me," Buck replied, "but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be helpful for you. Anyway, if I'd been here, you wouldn't have talked to her about it. I would've bailed you out. You would've talked to me."

"And what would you have done?"

Buck smiled at him. "Made you feel better," he replied, and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "My love."

"Oh, all right." Eddie gave him a playful look of admonishment, and then returned to his sandwich. "This is all because you don't like her."

Buck shrugged. "I think she filled a hole when I wasn't around, but… you probably don't really need to keep in touch anymore. As I said, I also don't think joining a fight club is a healthy outlet."

"It's not a fight club."

"Oh yeah, it's just a club nobody talks about where everyone fights. Fight club."

Eddie shot him a look. "It was street-fighting in a controlled environment—"

"Fight club."

"Whatever." Eddie had another bite, and glanced at him again. "She doesn't do it anymore."

"Oh, cool." He didn't really care either way, but he couldn’t help but ask, "Do you miss it?"

Eddie shrugged. "I kinda miss… fighting, you know?"

"I could be your partner," Buck offered. "If you want. We could book a ring somewhere—"

"No, baby," Eddie said automatically, and then looked around to make sure that nobody had heard. "No."

"Just to spar with."

"Nope." Eddie smiled at him. "No way."

Buck rolled his eyes. "I'm not delicate, you know."

"I don't care. I would never hit you, in the ring or out of it. Never. I know you can handle it but… I can't even imagine trying to take a swing at you. I just can't do it. I'll stick to the punching bag."

Buck cast a quick look around and then leaned in to kiss his cheek. "You're such a softie."

"I know; it's your fault," he complained. "It's all good. Life is good. I don't need it anymore."

**~*~*~*~**

**Athena**

"Buckaroo," Athena called, striding into the empty station at about three o'clock that afternoon. "Bobby said you were holding the fort. Where are you?"

"Up here," came the response – strange, she thought, as she took the stairs to the balcony. Paperwork was strewn across the table, the remnants of what looked like a brownie and a glass of milk, but still no Buck. "Evan Buckley."

A hand stuck up from the couch, which was soon followed by a grinning face, with telltale glazed over eyes. "Athena!"

"Oh my god," she groaned. "What did you eat?"

"These teenagers brought me a brownie," he said, cheeks flushed, eyes bright. "The best brownie I ever had. I can't stop laughing! This show is _so funny._ "

Athena looked at the television, which was on the home shopping network. "Buckaroo, you're stoned."

"Stoned? No, these are nice girls, nice teenagers," he replied, flopping back down on the couch. "And I told Bobby that I was gonna finish that paperwork for him and I'm gonna, I just… man, I just gotta see how this ends!"

"Teenage girls, you say?" Athena asked, inspecting the remnants of the brownie. "Buck, have you ever had a pot brownie before?"

"No ma'am and I never would. I don't like drugs," he said, sticking his head up again. "Athena! I don't like drugs."

"Okay. Buck, you're stoned." Athena pulled her cellphone out of her pants pocket, went to call Bobby, and then had another thought. "Does your better half know you're stoned?"

"Eddie? Eddie's here?" Buck looked around. "Oh man, he's going to be pissed, we were gonna share it! I said I'd save it for dessert tonight but I was hungry… and bored. Paperwork is so boring! Oh my god I'm going to have to get _another brownie._ Athena! I'm going to have to get him another brownie."

"You're not doing anything," she replied as she tried Eddie's number. It went to voicemail – unsurprising as they were out on a call – and she left a message for him. "Eddie, it's Athena. That was a pot brownie Buck was given today and he's high as a kite."

"They were selling kites on this show before," Buck said wonderingly. "I should get a kite. I'd be really good at it."

Athena ignored him, and continued the message. "Obviously I'm going to have to tell Bobby, but when you get this, I think you should make your way back to the station and pick up your dearly beloved, as he may end up buying a lot of useless junk on the home shopping network. Call me back."

She hung up, and turned to Buck again, who was now sitting up and staring at the television with his mouth hanging open. "Buckaroo, what are you doing?"

"That sapphire necklace is only _seventy-nine ninety-nine_ plus postage," he said in awe. "I could get that. I have money."

"Where's your wallet, Buck?"

"In my pocket. They take credit cards!" He fumbled around for it, finally located it and held it aloft triumphantly.

Athena snatched it. "I'll take that. You sit here quietly while I make you a snack."

He instantly perked up. "A _snack?_ "

"Yes, I bet you're hungry."

"Starved," he said dramatically, flopping onto his back on the couch. "That necklace though."

"Who would you give it to?"

"Eddie. He could be dripping with jewels like the king he is," Buck said wistfully. "He's so beautiful."

"Mmmhmm." Athena went to the kitchen cupboards, searching until she found a packet of potato chips. She grabbed a soda from the fridge and went to the couch, passing the food to Buck, who gave her an amazed, grateful look. "There you go. Eddie won't be far away."

**~*~*~*~**

Eddie received Athena's message just as they were about to leave the scene and head back to the 118. "Cap," he said, pressing a hand to his head, dismayed. "Buck's been dosed again."

Bobby turned to him in shock. "Excuse me?"

"He helped a couple of teenagers with their car the other day… they brought him a brownie at work and it's laced with pot, Athena says," Eddie replied. "Apparently he's out of it."

Bobby's jaw clenched. "Unbelievable."

"Yeah. She said she'd call you."

He checked his phone, and sure enough there were three missed calls from Athena. "Okay. Eddie, you go with Hen in the ambulance; you'll get there quicker. Chim! You're with me."

Hen gave him a confused look when he slid in beside her. "What's going on?"

He filled her in, and she laughed loudly, quickly pulling the ambulance out into traffic. "Oh man, I gotta see this."

~

Sure enough, when they arrived back at the station and took to the stairs, a very stoned Evan Buckley was lying on the floor with his legs on the couch, staring up at the ceiling, his mouth hanging open. Athena was in one of the armchairs, watching an old episode of _Friends_.

"He's been like that for forty minutes," she said, waving a hand at him. "Better than he was before, when all he did was talk about how if you were a king, he'd drape you in jewels and kiss your feet."

Hen cackled, doubling over. "Oh my god."

"The brownie?" Eddie asked Athena.

"Bagged it for evidence. Pretty sure I know what drug it is though. He ate a whole bag of potato chips and drank three sodas, and now he says he's staring at the stars."

Eddie knelt down beside Buck, and patted his face. "Hey."

"Eddie." Buck turned to him with a lazy smile, his eyes glazed over, pupils dilated. "We're on the moon."

"Oh, I think you're definitely on the moon." Eddie pressed a hand to his head, checking his temperature just in case, and sat cross-legged beside him. "Babe, I think we're going to have to take you home to bed."

"Bed," Buck repeated, and held his hands over his head. "That sounds good."

"Maybe before the others get back, huh?"

"Oh yeah. The others." Back stared at his hands wonderingly. "When did I grow another thumb?"

Hen snickered.

"You're probably seeing double." Eddie coaxed him into a sitting position, and when Buck gave him a loopy, adoring smile, he couldn't help but grin back. "Come on. You need to sleep this off."

"Sleep with you?"

"Not right now. Come on." Eddie stood, pulling Buck upright. "Let's get you out of here." He glanced over at Athena and said, "He didn't… buy anything, did he?"

"Nope." She threw him Buck's wallet. "I confiscated it, just in case."

"Thank god for that. He's a sucker for the home shopping network."

~

Eddie called Carla on the way home and asked her to take Christopher to his Abuela's. Buck was staring out the window with wonder, his eyes wide, barely paying attention.

"What's happened?" Carla asked worriedly.

"Buck accidentally ate a pot brownie and he's high as a kite," Eddie replied.

"Kites!" Buck exclaimed. "We should all get kites. Everyone. It would be _incredible._ "

Carla was giggling on the other end of the phone. "Oh no."

"Yeah, but I have to go back to work; I can't stay with him." Eddie glanced at Buck, who had leaned over to examine the pattern on the dashboard, trailing his finger on it. "I'm hoping he'll just go to sleep."

"Stop and get some food," she advised. "He'll want to eat. Get him some McDonald's or something. Fill him up, put him to bed and hope for the best."

"That's a good idea. I'll see you tonight; hopefully when he's less… out of it."

Buck turned his head to the side, grinning him at him widely. "Eddie, this is the coolest thing I've ever seen. You need to get in on this action."

"Good luck!" Carla sang, and ended the call.

Eddie reached out to rub Buck's back. "Baby, we're going to get you some food, okay? And then you're going to sleep for the rest of the afternoon."

"Okay," Buck agreed easily, leaning into his touch. "God, I love you."

"I love you too."

"You're my favourite person who has ever lived on this planet," Buck said emphatically. "I can't believe you love me back!"

"I do, baby," Eddie said, laughing as Buck stroked his face with his fingers. "I've gotta get you home, all right?"

"I thought for sure I was going to die alone," he said mournfully. "Without you ever loving me back the way I love you."

"You don't have to worry about that now." Eddie took his hand and held it to his lips. "You and I are getting married."

"I'm going to be such a good husband to you." Buck gave him a serious look. "I'm going to be so good."

"You are good." Eddie gave his hand three quick kisses in a row. "You want some McDonald's?"

"Oh my god, _yes_."

"Okay. I'm going to order you a selection, all right?"

Buck nodded eagerly. "I love you."

Eddie laughed. "I love you too."

~

He managed to get Buck home and set him up in their bed, surrounded by food. He wanted to listen to music so Eddie found a YouTube playlist of hits from the 60s and 70s and put that on the TV, and when he left (with Buck's wallet stuffed in the sock drawer in case he was feeling a little _spendy_ ), Buck was sprawled out on his stomach on the bed, a cheeseburger hanging out of his mouth, watching a weird psychedelic music video with wide eyes.

Bobby was apoplectic when Eddie returned to work, and he decided the best course of action was to take over where Buck had left off and try to work his way through the paperwork. That was where Bobby found him an hour later, standing at the end of the table with his hands on his hips.

"He didn't know it was a pot brownie when he ate it, did he?" he asked unhappily.

Eddie shook his head firmly. "He's not an idiot."

"I just had to ask. What do you know about these teenagers? Athena is going to charge them."

"I think he'll be pretty upset if she does that, you know – he helped them change a tyre the other day. They're just kids. I wouldn't bother."

It was the wrong thing to say. Bobby raised his eyebrows and snapped, "One of my firefighters gets stoned on the job – and not only that, my most high-profile firefighter – and you wouldn't bother?"

Eddie held his hands up innocently. "Cap, it's just a mistake."

"You would defend him."

"Defend him? I'm finishing up this paperwork for him," he protested. "I'm not happy about it either."

"He's off tomorrow as well," Bobby said, starting over to his office. "And maybe tell him to be less of a good Samaritan in the future."

"Have you met him?" Eddie asked. "He stops for _everyone._ "

"And gets given pot brownies in return!" Bobby slammed the door to his office shut.

Hen whistled from the couch. Eddie said flatly, "I can't stop him from doing good deeds."

"You can stop him from taking presents from everyone."

"I can't do that either. Buck's gonna do what Buck's gonna do." He pressed his hands to his forehead, taking a calming breath, and tried to resume the paperwork.

"He trusts everyone," Hen said. "That's the problem."

"Yeah, well, not everyone hands out pot brownies, do they? They're just a couple of stupid kids. They'd have no idea of the consequences. Buck's not going to want to pursue it."

~

He collected Christopher from Abuela's and returned home with some trepidation. Everything looked fine as they pulled up, but when he opened his door, he heard music coming from inside. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"We'll soon find out." He helped Christopher out of the car and led him up to the house, unlocking the front door. The smell of food hit him as soon as the door was open – it smelled _delicious_ , like the spicy chicken dish that Buck occasionally made for them (and hoarded the recipe as though it was something precious). Music was blaring in the kitchen – he didn't recognise the song, but he could hear Buck singing along with it, badly.

"Let the sun _shine_ , let the _sunshine IN_ , the sun _shine innnnn…."_

Christopher gave Eddie a confused look, and they went to the kitchen to investigate. There was Buck, shirtless, wearing a pair of jeans and a bandanna around his neck, shaking his ass as he leaned over a pot bubbling on the stove. It was a _sight_ , and he tried hard not to laugh.

"Uh, Buck?" Eddie asked. "You okay?"

Buck whirled around, a broad grin on his face – still stoned. Definitely stoned. "It's beautiful," he said, holding out a spoon with a red sauce on it. "Taste, my love. Taste."

Eddie opened his mouth obediently, praying and hoping that it was delicious – and it _was_ , just the right amount of spice and seasoning that wouldn't blow Christopher's head off. "Yum," he said, resting his hand on Christopher's shoulder. "You've been cooking then?"

"Well, I slept for a while," Buck replied, bending over to smack a kiss to Christopher's cheek as he giggled loudly, "and then I woke up and thought, you know what? I'm going to ride this train all the way to the station, blast some tunes and just really _lean into it_."

"Ah," Eddie replied, gesturing for Christopher to take his bag to his room. "So you're… coming down," he said when they were alone, leaning on the kitchen bench.

"Maybe? I don't really know. I'm not seeing double anymore! So that's something." The music changed, and Buck held his hands over his head triumphantly. "Listen to _this._ "

Heavy guitar kicked in, a song Eddie had never heard before, and the singer growled, "Ooh baby," before the lyrics kicked in:

 _You say that you love me  
_ _All of the time  
_ _You say you need me  
_ _You'll always be mine_

Buck grabbed him around the waist, kissing him firmly as he dragged him out to the living room. Eddie wanted to protest, because the lights were on and the windows were open, and their neighbours could surely see in, but their hips were pressed together and he forgot about everything as the chorus kicked in:

 _I'm feeling glad all over  
_ _Baby I'm glad all over  
_ _Yes I'm glad all over  
_ _That you're mine_

He was relieved Christopher wasn't in the room because Buck was staring at him with intent, his hands gripping Eddie's waist, practically grinding up against him. Eddie wrapped his hands around his biceps, locked onto his eyes, the music washing over them.

 _I'll make you happy  
_ _You'll never be blue  
_ _You'll have no sorrow  
_ _'Cause I'll always be true_

Buck swung him around suddenly, in an exaggerated twirl, and then pulled him in close, crushing him against his chest, their lips inches apart.

 _I'm feeling glad all over  
_ _Baby I'm glad all over  
_ _Yes I'm glad all over  
_ _That you're mine  
_ _So glad you're mine_

Buck's hands slid from his shoulders down his arms, their foreheads pressed together, still swaying to the music. Eddie's mouth was dry, staring up into his bright blue eyes, the rest of the world forgotten.

 _The other girls, they try to take you away  
_ _I wonder what for  
_ _But you know it's by your side I will stay  
_ _I will stay  
_ _All of our life now  
_ _Til the end of time  
_ _Because it's love now  
_ _And it's yours and mine_

Christopher suddenly shrieked with laughter from behind them and they broke apart – Eddie turned to face him and was immediately pulled in against Buck, who kissed his cheek and swung him around again, flashing a grin at Christopher, who was doubled over with hysterics.

"Okay, okay," Eddie shouted, trying to regain control of the situation, but Buck was determined to see the song out and they danced through the guitar solo. When the key change kicked in, and the chorus began again, Buck physically lifted him up off the ground and kissed him thoroughly.

 _I'm feeling!  
_ _Glad all over  
_ _Yes I'm glad all over  
_ _Baby I'm glad all over_  
 _That you're mine  
_ _So glad you're mine…_

As the music faded out, Buck lowered him to the floor, grinning at him goofily. Eddie couldn't help but laugh, and then turned to look at Christopher, who was giggling helplessly. "You see what I have to put up with?" he said. Christopher nodded, doubling over with laughter. "Okay – Chris, please go and wash up for dinner, and Buck – baby," he said through a laugh, as Buck kissed his cheek and neck, "turn the music down, and let's have dinner."

"Deal!" Buck exclaimed, bounding back into the kitchen.

Eddie left him, following Christopher down the hall. "Hands and face, bud," he said, opening the bathroom door for him. "We'll pick out a movie tonight."

"Why is Buck so happy?"

"He just had a really good day," Eddie replied, not knowing what else to say. "He's made us a delicious dinner. Go on."

He went into the bedroom and found it a mess – McDonald's wrappers strewn across the bed, a half-eaten cheeseburger on the nightstand and an apple pie resting inexplicably on Eddie's pillow. He surveyed the damage, changing out of his clothes, and cleaned up as best he could, taking the bag out to the kitchen, where Buck was carefully dishing up three bowls as though he was a contestant on Masterchef.

"Babe," Eddie said from the doorway. "It's just us."

"Gotta look good though." Buck was bent over, eyeballing each of the bowls to make sure they were level. "Gotta make sure. You never know. Gordon Ramsay is everywhere and nowhere at the same time."

"I can assure you he's not in the house right now." Eddie left the near the front door and went to set the table, sniffing the air. "Is something burning?"

"Nope," Buck replied, but a moment later he heard the oven door open. "Just a little crispy."

Eddie peered around the corner at him. "You… made bread?"

"Eddie, you don't make bread without yeast and I don't have any yeast," Buck replied, as he buttered slices of thick Vienna bread. "This is from a bakery."

"When did you go to a bakery?" he asked suspiciously. "You were not supposed to leave the house."

"I didn't! I got Postmates. I followed all your instructions to the tee," Buck said proudly, but when Eddie tried to take the plates out to the table, he let out a panicked, "No! I haven't garnished them yet!"

"Baby, we don't need garnishes."

"You don't need garnishes; Christopher and I do!" Buck hustled him out of the kitchen. "Out!"

"Oh my god, I hope you're gonna come down soon," Eddie complained.

Christopher returned from the bathroom, and Eddie helped him into his seat, waiting while Buck fussed over the food. "What's taking so long?" Christopher asked.

"He's being a perfectionist," Eddie replied, and went back to the kitchen door. "Sweetheart, can we eat now?"

"Please take your seat."

Eddie exhaled, and went to sit beside Christopher. "We're both seated."

"Okay." Buck carried out two bowls and placed them proudly in front of them, before returning with his bowl and a tray of buttered toast. "Now, my beautiful boys, what we have here is spicy chicken and peppers with the pickled jalapenos that Abuela gave me last week, paired with a freshly baked sourdough from the bakery," he said proudly, "and garnished with fresh cilantro. Not too spicy, Chris."

Eddie reached out to cup his cheek and said, "Thank you, you've done a wonderful job."

"You mean it? You'll tell Gordon if he ever stops by, right?"

"I will." Eddie gestured to the food. "Can we eat?"

"Eat!" Buck exclaimed, picking up his spoon.

Eddie had to admit, stoned or not, Buck was a great cook.

~

Buck crashed out while they were watching the movie, his head on Eddie's shoulder, face buried against his neck. Eddie had one arm around him and the other around Christopher while they watched _Back to the Future_ , gently rubbing his thumb against Buck's neck and playing with his earlobe while he slept.

When the credits rolled, he flicked the television off, ruffling Christopher's hair. "Bedtime."

"Is Buck okay?"

"He's fine," he replied, though Buck was drooling onto his shirt. "Just tired."

Christopher gave him a look, like he didn't quite believe that, and slid off the couch. Eddie shifted Buck so he was lying on the couch and followed Christopher down the hall to help him into his pyjamas and tuck him into bed. He read to him for a while, but Christopher's eyes drooped shut quickly, and soon Eddie was pressing kisses to his head and closing the door to his bedroom.

He returned to the kitchen to tidy up and heard Buck groan from the couch. Eddie grabbed some aspirin and a bottle of water, and went out to join him, kneeling beside him. "Baby," he said, as Buck gave him a miserable look. "Take this and come to bed."

"My head hurts."

"I know. You're coming down. Time for sleep."

"Was the food good?" Buck asked as he sat up, rubbing his face.

"You outdid yourself." Eddie tapped a couple of aspirin into his palm and handed them to Buck, together with the bottle of water. "And you're off work tomorrow. Bobby's pissed."

"Oh man, I didn't know," Buck complained after he downed the pills and water. "I really didn't know."

"You're too trusting. Taking a brownie from teenagers? A single brownie? _Buck_."

"They're like, sixteen! Where are they gonna get pot from?" Buck slumped back onto the couch, and then made a face. "Why am I wearing a bandanna?"

"I came home, and you were dressed like this. Honestly, I like it."

"Ugh." Buck threw an arm over his eyes. "I feel like shit."

"Would a hot shower with your soon-to-be-husband cheer you up?" he suggested, walking his fingers down Buck's chest to his belt buckle.

Buck managed a grin. "Maybe."

"Maybe. I think we can do better than that."

~~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of trigger warnings:
> 
> Christopher has a school bully and is not his usual happy self, and Eddie and Buck also have to have a "sex talk" with him in this chapter.

Buck was on the naughty list at work again. As soon as he set foot in the building Bobby was gesturing for him to follow him to his office, and he stood there meekly as he launched into a tirade:

"You have got to stop this kind of behaviour, Evan. You are already one of the most high-profile firefighters in the LAFD – between the ladder truck, the lawsuit and you and Eddie being outed, you're already on the Chief's radar for all the wrong reasons. And now I have to complete a report detailing how you willingly ingested a pot brownie while at work?"

"I didn't know—"

"You just blindly trusted, that's the problem! Two teenagers handed you a single cling-wrapped brownie and you don't question it? You need to apply some critical thinking! I'm going to have to speak to the Chief about this, _again_. I'm really disappointed in you. Get out."

He was silent as he went into the locker room, ignoring the rest of the team, embarrassed and ashamed. He changed into his uniform, and only looked up when Eddie came into the room, offering him a sympathetic smile.

The most humiliating shame was to come half an hour later when Athena arrived. He had to give her a statement and then, as a joke, she then made him undertake a field sobriety test while everyone watched and laughed from the balcony. Eddie and Hen were both out getting coffees, missing the show completely.

Buck complied, smiling along benignly, the butt of the joke – always the butt of the fucking joke. What else could he fucking do?

Pissed off and feeling smaller than he'd ever felt in his entire life, he disappeared into the bunk room and tried to cool off. He picked the furthest bed from the door and sat down, rubbing his face with both hands, embarrassed and annoyed at his own naiveté. He squared his shoulders and took a few deep breaths, his eyes trained on a spot on the wall.

Eddie found him in there five minutes later, crawling onto the bed and sliding his hands across his shoulders. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Chim just told me what happened while I was out. Are you okay?"

Buck leaned back against him, closing his eyes. Eddie had him. Eddie was on his team.

Eddie rested his chin on Buck's shoulder and murmured again, "Are you okay, baby?"

"No."

"What can I do?"

"I don't know." He swallowed hard; his eyes trained on a spot on the floor. "Every time I feel like… I'm getting somewhere, I get knocked back down. Whether I get crushed by a ladder truck or I cough up a blood clot or lose my shit when you're buried underground… I get a lecture from Bobby, every single time. The only time he didn't lecture me was after the bus fire and I'm still not sure why."

"So what are you thinking?" Eddie slid his hands around Buck's waist, clasping his fingers together.

"I'm thinking that if I'm continually going to feel like this, working here, maybe I shouldn't work with Bobby anymore. I know I'm dumb; I know that. Everyone tells me I'm dumb, so I must be."

"You're not dumb, _at all_."

"I am. I got stoned at work." Buck swallowed hard. "No wonder Bobby treats me like a kid. I'm about to be married and be a father and I'm still fucking up. Why do you even want me? You should just go find someone who isn't going to fuck up all the time." He was spiralling into a pit of despair, and he couldn't snap out of it.

"Whoa," Eddie said quietly, releasing his grasp, moving so he was sitting at Buck's side. He turned Buck's face to meet his eyes and said, "Baby. Come on. I know you're feeling down but never question my love for you, all right? And you're not dumb, or stupid, or any of those things. You didn't _know._ "

"I'm an idiot."

"You're not! You didn't know. There's a difference between doing something stupid intentionally and not realising you're doing it. They can laugh at you all they want, but we know the truth – one hundred percent, every single one of them would've eaten that brownie too."

"But I did," he said miserably, tears burning in his eyes. "And it's just another thing in the long list of things."

"Yeah, but your list of heroics cancels out that other list," Eddie said loyally. "Saving Christopher in the midst of a tsunami is always going to be my number one, most heroic Buck moment."

"I still lost him."

Eddie gave him a long, considered look. "I need you to look at me and acknowledge that you saved his life. Come on. You _saved his life._ "

"If you hadn't dropped him off with me, he wouldn't have needed saving—"

"No," Eddie cut in, sliding off the bed and onto his knees on the floor, gazing up at Buck imploringly. "Stop it. Look at me. I have never, ever blamed you for that. You took my kid to an amusement park and on that day, of all days, there was a tsunami. It was _not your fault._ It's not like you heard there was a tsunami and rushed down there with him. You saved his life. Just say it for me once, okay? Even if you don't really believe it."

A tear slipped down his cheek. "I saved his life," he said hollowly.

"The good you do, every single day of your life, outweighs the mistakes," Eddie said quietly.

Buck met his eyes uncertainly.

"That's why I picked you for my team. You're smart, strong and brave. Effortlessly heroic." He smiled at him. "I see you, baby. I always see you exactly for who you are."

He let out a miserable sob and buried his face in his hands. Eddie rested his hands on his knees and silently waited until he stopped crying. "You're okay," Eddie said gently. "It's okay."

"It's not. I feel stupid." He lifted his head, sucking in a deep breath. "I just… I love this job. I love doing this job. I know I'm good at it, right?"

"Right."

"But… lately it's like… I’m losing confidence in myself, in making the right decisions. He hauled me in there and yelled at me like I willingly chose to do that – like—" he glanced over at the door, ensuring it was shut, and then said in a low voice, "like _I'm_ the alcoholic. You know? Like I did it on purpose."

Eddie nodded seriously. "Yeah, I can see that."

"And he never talks to anyone else the way he talks to me. Like, do you think he'd pull you aside and yell at you the way he yelled at me? I'm nearly thirty. I'm engaged; I'm going to be a dad… I've been doing this job for four years. I keep fucking up. Maybe I’m not actually meant to do this. Maybe I should've been a cop—"

"No," Eddie said sharply, gripping Buck's knees tightly. "Absolutely not."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? How am I ever going to advance, working here?"

Eddie paused. "Advance?"

He bit his lip uncertainly. "Maybe?"

"To be a captain one day?"

"Maybe."

"I didn't know you wanted that." Eddie sat back on his knees, his lips pursed. "You could do that. You could definitely do that."

"No, I couldn't. I've just sat here crying and—"

"Who cares about that? You're allowed to cry if you're upset; it's not a big deal. You'd be a great captain," Eddie said thoughtfully. "You need a little more time under your belt, sure, but if that's something you want to work towards, I think we should definitely do it."

Surprised, he said, "You really think so? You're not just saying this because I'm going to be your husband, right?"

"No, I wouldn't lie to you. I'd never lie to you." Eddie smiled up at him. "Captain Buckley. I like the sound of that."

"What about you - Captain Diaz?"

"Nah, too much responsibility. I'll just be your right-hand man."

"I thought maybe you'd tell me that I was being unreasonable."

"Babe, it's not like you want to be an astronaut – now, I'd put my foot down at that," Eddie said emphatically. "But you'd be a great captain. We'll work towards it. That's your goal."

"No more mistakes."

"Hey, if there are – big deal. Everyone makes mistakes. Look at Bobby," Eddie said in a low voice, arching his eyebrows. "I mean… for everything he accuses you of doing, it pales in comparison to what he did. And besides, you have one thing that he doesn't have."

"Blue eyes."

Eddie grinned and said, "No, you've got me in your corner, and I've got your back. And today was shitty, but Chim said you handled it well – nobody knows you're upset; all they see is Buck, smiling, going along with it good-naturedly. If I'd been here, I would've made them stop."

"I know."

"So… what do you want to do? How are you feeling right now?"

He shrugged. "Honestly, I feel really embarrassed and… lousy. Like… if Bobby has no confidence in me, what am I doing here? He's not wrong… we caused him a lot of work, with everything. Maybe… I should transfer out."

Eddie made a face. "You're not going anywhere without me."

"I can't ask you to leave. You love it here."

"I'll go wherever you go. If you want to leave, we go together. I love working with _you._ You are my priority, not the 118." Eddie thought for a moment, chewing on his lower lip. "How about we see how things are in a month and go from there. If you get to the point where you want to transfer, I'll support you. Okay?"

"I can't ask you to do that, Eds."

"You're not asking me to do anything. We're going to assess how things are in a month, and if there's no improvement, and you're still feeling the way you are now – we will look at our options. That's it," he said simply. "It doesn't mean that we wash our hands of everyone here, that we're not friends anymore – it means that maybe this place isn't exactly the right fit for us. And that's okay."

Buck let out a breath. He wasn't sure he wanted to leave – he was still hopeful of working things out with Bobby, and he wasn't sure another captain was the answer.

"I just don't want to feel like this anymore," he said to Eddie. "I need to prove myself again. I'm going to get through this, and show Bobby that I'm not stupid, and that I can do this job and be good at it… right?"

"You already are great at it," Eddie replied, rising up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "My sweetheart."

"Stop it, sunflower."

Eddie admonished him with a look, and then leaned in again, humming when Buck kissed him sweetly, almost chastely, with only the lightest touch of their tongues. The promise of something more, later, when they weren't at work. Eddie pressed his forehead against Buck's and murmured, "I'll follow you anywhere. All you have to do is ask."

"I love you," he replied quietly. "So much."

"Mmm, I love you too."

A knock at the door broke them apart, and Chimney leaned in. "If you two are done making out – Buck, you're washing the trucks."

Buck rolled his eyes. Eddie said, "You're not doing it alone. Don't get me all wet again."

He followed Eddie out of the bunk rooms and down to the engines, wondering again how the fuck he was so lucky. Eddie flashed him a smile over his shoulder and Buck thought, _I love you; I'd do anything for you._

He didn't want to leave the 118, but he also didn't want to be the team fuck-up forever. The shit-kicker, the one who copped the worse punishments. The team punching bag. Bobby's punching bag, he thought bitterly, as he and Eddie passed Bobby on the way to the trucks.

**~*~*~*~**

**Christopher**

He liked school.

He used to love school, but now he only liked it.

He had three friends – Henry, Matthew and Lucas. They were his three best friends. He had other friends as well, but he'd been hanging out with Henry, Matt and Lucas since he'd first started at the school. They did _everything_ together.

Outside of school he was friends with Denny and Harry – they were cool too.

They also sometimes hung around with the girls – Ella, Josie and Molly. Sometimes. The girls liked to pick fights with them. Christopher thought Ella was the nicest and sometimes they traded lunches – Dad wouldn't need to know about that. Her mom always packed a rice crispy treat. Dad liked healthy lunches, but sometimes Buck would sneak him some cookies or a cupcake.

He didn't like the new kid. Rodney was mean to everyone, especially Christopher. He made fun of him when he had to leave for his special classes, and on Wednesdays when he left school early with Carla to go to physical therapy.

Christopher knew he was different; he'd always known that. You couldn't be a child with cerebral palsy and go to school without someone pointing out how different you were. He'd never let it bother him before because Dad was so adamant that he was going to be able to do anything that he wanted to do, despite his limitations.

But as he grew older, that was seeming less and less likely.

And Rodney was mean. Really mean. He talked about sex a lot. Christopher had a vague understanding of what _it_ was, but he wasn't really interested. Rodney talked about things that Christopher didn't understand, and they weighed heavily on his mind. How would he find out what any of it meant? Could he ask Buck?

And then one day Rodney cornered Christopher, away from his friends, and called him that _name_ – that rude word beginning with 'R', the one that hurt the most.

He'd heard that word before, a few times. Once someone had made that remark in front of him at the grocery store and Dad had gotten so angry, and then at home he'd cried a little while they hugged.

Christopher wasn't stupid. He understood everything going on around him, and if he didn't, he'd talk to Buck. But he couldn't talk to Buck or Dad about this – he was ashamed. He was ashamed of the way he cried after, how he felt so small and helpless.

He didn't want them to know. They were so big and strong; they made him feel safe, and if he cried, Dad would cry too, and he hated to see his Dad cry. He didn't want to upset him when he was so happy with Buck.

So he told no one.

**~*~*~*~**

"Hey kiddo," Eddie said, wandering into Christopher's room. "Buck and I are going out on Friday night. Bobby and Athena asked if you might want to have a sleepover at their house with Denny and Harry?"

Christopher looked up from his book and asked unhappily, "Where are you going?"

"Uncle Chimney has invited us over to play board games," he replied, taking a seat on the end of the bed. "I thought maybe you'd like to have a sleepover; you haven't seen Harry in a while."

Christopher made a face, turning his eyes to his book again. "Yeah. Okay."

Eddie frowned, examining the cover of the book – _1001 Questions about Science_ , something Buck had picked up for him. "Is your book interesting?"

"No."

"No? I thought you liked science."

Christopher let the book fall to the floor with a thud and rolled onto his side. "I don't."

Concerned, Eddie examined his son. He'd been in a funny mood for a couple of weeks, but when pressed about it, he simply repeated that everything was fine. Eddie had Carla ask his teacher and she reported back that he hadn't noticed anything odd; that Christopher still had his friends and was doing well in school.

He finally said, "You can talk to me about anything, you know. Are you feeling a bit sick?"

"Nope."

"Headache?"

"No."

"No muscle pain, right bud? We don't need to take you to the specialist for a check-up?"

"Nope." Christopher stared listlessly at the wall.

Eddie studied him with a frown. "You're obviously upset, Chris. What can I do to help?"

Christopher let out an exaggerated sigh, and finally looked over at him. "I don't want to talk about it because it's rude."

"It's rude? What's rude?"

"The _thing._ "

Trying not to freak out, Eddie said, "Okay… it's rude, and you were looking in a science book—"

"That didn't have the _answers at all._ "

Eddie reached over the bed and snagged the book, pulling it onto his lap. "You want to ask me a question about something that's not in here?"

"Maybe I could Google it," Christopher suggested, sitting up a bit. "Can I look on your iPad?"

"No, I think you're going to ask me the question and we can decide if we want to Google it together." Eddie gave him a serious look. "I'm not going to get mad."

Christopher exhaled again, making a face. "I know it's rude."

"Okay."

"But they were talking about it and… I don't know what it is. I feel dumb."

He wanted to ask who was talking about it, but he simply nodded encouragingly, hoping Christopher would open up to him.

Christopher finally asked, his voice low, "Dad… what's a blow job?"

Eddie nearly choked on his tongue, but recovered quickly, trying to keep his face impassive. "Okay. You're right – that's a very grown-up thing, Chris."

"So what is it?"

"Uh…" Eddie trailed off, totally stunned. Christopher was turning ten, and he'd seen one or two movie sex scenes before (the one in _Titanic_ and one in a movie on TV, before Buck had practically dived for the remote and switched it off), but they'd never had _the talk_. He guessed it was time for the basics, and wanted Buck there for the discussion, so he called out for him. "Hey, Buck? Can you come in here?"

Christopher's eyes went wide. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, no, we're just… going to talk about this as a family," Eddie replied, as Buck appeared in the doorway, munching on a banana. _Appropriate_ , Eddie thought, gesturing for him to come in and sit down. "Christopher has a question."

"What's up, bud?" Buck sprawled out on the floor, smiling up at him, taking a bite of his banana.

"What's a blow job?"

Buck choked and clutched his throat, coughing violently before recovering, tears in his eyes. "What?!" he asked in a strangled voice.

Christopher groaned. "I just want to know what it is!"

Eddie touched his knee and said, "Who told you about that? Who was talking about it?"

Christopher wouldn't meet his eyes. "No one."

Eddie gave Buck a desperate look, and was relieved when Buck said, "Hey, buddy – you can tell us. You're not in trouble."

"Is it like when… the girl blows on the man's face? Is that it?" Christopher looked back and forth between them expectantly, dodging the question.

He tried to think back to when he was a kid – when had he first started wondering about sex? It had to have been around the same age as Christopher. He recalled doing a basic sex-ed class at school, and then stumbling across some Playboy magazines in the basement. Those were eye-opening.

So maybe he owed it to Christopher to do the one thing his father had never done for him, which was to have a proper talk about sex – maybe not particularly graphic, but a starting off point, so that Christopher would feel comfortable coming to him with any questions as he grew older.

"No, it's not that," he replied, shifting so he was sitting cross-legged on the bed. "Okay. Chris, we're gonna have a sex talk, all right?"

Christopher shook his head. "I just want to know—"

"No, I'm going to explain it to you." Eddie raked a hand through his hair. He glanced at Buck, who gave him a shrug and an ' _eek_ ' face, and then began. "Okay, bud. When you get older – much older than you are now – you might meet a girl or a boy you have feelings for."

Christopher made a face, and then nodded.

"And sometimes when you find that special person, you want to be close to them. Sex is about sharing closeness with someone. Being together, when you're in love. Or not – sometimes," he added, making a face. "But it's a grown-up thing."

"How will I know when I want it?"

"You'll just know. And you know what? Some people never want it," he replied. "Some people just want to be alone, and that's okay too. As you get older, you'll figure out what you want and go from there. Things will become clearer, but this is not something you need to worry about right now."

Christopher nodded slowly. "And it makes babies."

"Yeah. When a man and a woman have sex, they can make a baby."

"How?"

He let out a breath, glancing at Buck again, who simply smiled at him. "Okay." Eddie gave a very brief overview of the mechanics of sex, how men and women were different, how the semen fertilised the egg and made a baby. Christopher listened silently, nodding every so often, his eyes trained on a spot on the bed.

"And it's fun," Christopher finally said.

"Yeah, but… again, this is something that _consenting adults do_ ," Eddie stressed. "You're still a kid. I want you to be informed; I want you to be able to ask me questions, but… if there are kids talking about this stuff at school, you should tell me so I can talk to your teacher."

"And be a _tattle-tale_?" Christopher asked disdainfully. "And you still haven't explained what it is."

"Oh god." Eddie glanced at Buck desperately.

Buck sat up a little straighter, and said, "Chris, when you're an adult, sometimes you have sex for fun and not to make a baby. It's part of that."

Christopher thought about it for a second. "So what is it?"

"It's a sex act," Buck replied, "and you're a little too young to learn about it."

"I'm nearly ten," he protested.

"That's still a little young, buddy. It's something that adults do, and you don't need to worry about it until you're older. Who was talking about this? No one is going to get in trouble." Buck gave him an expectant look. "Your Dad and I just want to make sure everything is okay, that's all."

Eddie waited with bated breath, watching as Christopher wrestled with whether to tell them. Finally, he said, "I don't want to tell you. He watched a movie and it was in the movie. He said it was something that we'd all do one day to not be babies anymore."

His heart seized, but he tried to stay calm. "Chris, please, I really, really want to know who was telling you this."

Christopher grimaced and muttered, "Rodney."

Rodney. Eddie thought for a minute, mentally scrolling through the list of kids in Christopher's class, and then remembered the weird, tall kid. "That's the new kid. Right?"

"Yeah." Christopher lay down on his pillows again, turning to the side. "I don't want to be a grown-up."

"I don't blame you dude, it sucks," Buck replied. "I remember when I was your age. It was awesome. I used to ride my bike everywhere."

Eddie met Buck's eyes and had a silent conversation – _stay here with him_ – and then slipped off the bed. He could hear Buck talking about an adventure he'd gotten up to as a kid, and it was only when he heard Christopher laugh that his heart stopped pounding.

He went out to the kitchen and called Carla, relaying to her what Christopher had told him. She reassured him that she didn't think he was in any immediate danger; that kids sometimes talked about this stuff, but that they would ask for a meeting with the school to discuss it.

He thought about calling the parents of Christopher's friends but decided against it, and stress-ate one of Buck's secret, hidden Mars Bars before wandering back down the hallway. Buck was in bed with Christopher, Eddie's iPad propped up between them, watching a YouTube video.

Christopher was laughing again, his head resting on Buck's shoulder. Buck met Eddie's eyes and flashed him a smile, and Eddie's nerves were settled, _somewhat._

~

On Friday morning, Carla strode into the 118, holding a tray with three coffees on it. Eddie and Buck descended the stairs, ignoring Chimney's squawk as they abandoned him mid-lunch preparation, and walked with her out to the park bench in the front of the station.

"So," she said, handing them each a coffee, "I talked to his teacher, who was pretty horrified. They would like to have a meeting with all of us – just us for now – on Monday to discuss what Christopher told you."

"I haven't told any of the other parents yet," Eddie replied, exchanging a look with Buck. "I didn't know what to do. I don't know if it's something I should be worried about."

Buck muttered, "If Debra gets a hold of this, we'll never hear the end of it."

Carla admonished him with a look, but grinned. "She's _awful_. Eddie, kids are like sponges – they see something on TV, they soak it up. I'm not saying this kid is a bad kid, but… obviously he's seen something he shouldn't have and told the others, and Christopher is confused."

"We had a sex talk," Buck said, sipping his coffee. "I don't know how much more explicit we should be… my parents never had a sex talk with me. I had to look it up in a book. And my friend's dad had some Playboys that we looked at."

"I don't have any Playboys," Eddie said, and then groaned. "He's too young! Isn't he?"

"How old were you when you started wondering about it?"

"I don't know… ten or eleven." Eddie gave Buck a horrified look. "He's not going to be our little boy that much longer. In a few years he'll be a _teenager._ "

Buck laughed and shook his head. "Eddie, he's still a kid. He loves Legos and books and playing games; he loves to be tickled and watch cartoons. He's not growing up that fast; chill out."

"I just didn't think I'd have to deal with this yet."

"Hey consider yourself lucky," Carla said. "He asked you the question, which means he trusts you. He didn't keep it to himself or try to hide anything. Christopher is a smart kid. Now, I think there's something that he's not telling us—"

Eddie clenched with fear. "Something bad?"

"No, I think… the dynamics have changed with this new kid. I've sensed some tension." Carla reached out to squeeze his hand. "Listen to me – we'll have this meeting with the school to discuss everything and go from there. I don't think Christopher is in danger. His teachers know to keep an eye on him. We will figure this out. In the meantime, Eddie, just relax a bit, okay? Your boy is growing up but not that fast. He still sleeps with a teddy bear."

"Okay," he murmured. "You're right."

"I'm always right."

~~

Buck and Eddie drove Christopher to Bobby and Athena's house for the sleepover. He was quiet in the backseat, looking out the window, and Eddie finally asked, "Everything okay, bud?"

"Yep."

"You excited about tonight?"

Christopher paused, and then said, "Yep."

Buck glanced at him briefly, and then turned back to the road. "Hey listen," he said, "if you want to come home, just ask Bobby and Athena to call us, and we'll come get you."

"But you're going _out_ ," Christopher replied dejectedly.

"Yeah, but you're our number one guy," Eddie replied. "So if you're not having fun, we'll come get you."

"Whatever."

Eddie and Buck exchanged a look. Eddie turned around in his seat, studying Christopher with concern. "Hey buddy – what's going on? Do you not want to go to the sleepover?"

Christopher heaved a sigh. "I guess."

"Did something happen at school?"

"Nope."

 _Liar_ , Eddie thought. Something was going on; he just couldn't figure out what it was. It was unlike Christopher to keep things from him, and he was uneasy about having him spend the night at Bobby and Athena's, but Buck had _promised_ Maddie that they would be there for a games' night. She was due in a couple of weeks and determined to have one last night of friendship and food before the baby came along, so they were committed to attending.

Buck glanced at him and said, "Hey, how about tomorrow, the three of us do something fun? Chris – here's your homework for tonight. Come up with something _awesome_ that we can do tomorrow – doesn't matter what it is. The cooler the better. This is all you, buddy."

Christopher was already smiling. "You mean it?"

"Yep, absolutely."

"I want to go to the beach. The magic beach."

Eddie arched his eyebrows at Buck, who said, "Bud, it's a big drive – but if you want to go to the beach, I'll find us another magic beach. How does that sound?"

Christopher thought for a moment and then said, "Okay."

"All right, deal. I'll find us another super awesome beach that's close to town, and we'll do that tomorrow after we pick you up."

"Great!" Christopher smiled at Eddie cheerfully. "I can't wait."

They dropped him off, stopping to chat to Bobby, Athena and Michael, who was over for a visit. Things were still a little tense between Buck and Bobby, and they hadn't been speaking much since their argument. Buck followed the kids down to Harry's room, Christopher's bag slung over his shoulder, leaving Eddie with the adults.

"How's everything?" Michael asked him. "Wedding planning going well?"

Eddie said, "It's a disaster. I have no idea what I'm doing. He's planning the honeymoon and left me in charge of the wedding – arguably the most important part."

"Don't stress," Athena advised. "I can help you out with whatever you need. We still have Bobby's binder of wedding ideas – do you want that?"

"Really? That would be amazing."

"Sure, I'll get it for you," Bobby said easily, clapping him on the shoulder as he went to locate it.

"You probably do need to get a venue booked now," Athena said. "You don't have that long to go."

"He just wants an outdoor space somewhere. I've been trying to find a private garden or something like that." Eddie paused, and then said, "Hey listen – something's going on with Chris and we're not sure what it is. We've got a meeting with the school on Monday to discuss this new kid in his class – apparently there's been some sex talk?"

Michael had a pained expression on his face. "Yeah, Harry went through the same damn thing at his school, only he didn't tell us about it. And then I looked at his internet search history."

"Well, Christopher asked us, at least…" Eddie trailed off. "I'm just a little worried. Thought I'd give you the heads up in case anything is mentioned tonight, but we had a talk with him, and he seemed okay. I just… feel like he's hiding something; I don't know what it is."

"We'll let you know if anything is said," Athena reassured him. "You're picking him up at nine tomorrow?"

"Yeah, it won't be a big night, Maddie and Chimney just want to play Monopoly with us," he replied, as Buck reappeared, flashing him the thumbs up.

At the same time Bobby emerged with the wedding folder and handed it to Eddie. "There you go. Some of the information will be out of date but that should give you a starting point."

"Wedding prep," Buck said, joining their huddle. "We need to sit down and figure it out."

"Maybe work out a guest list," Athena suggested. "And send out invitations."

"God," Eddie groaned. "Why did you put me in charge of this again?"

"Because you're so organised." Buck flashed him a smile.

"And he probably won't eat a pot brownie while he's doing paperwork," Bobby added.

The smile faded from Buck's face. He took a step towards the door, shoulders stiff. "Yep."

Athena looked back and forth between them with a frown. "Maybe time to let that go," she said to Bobby. "He didn't do it on purpose."

"Still. Maybe next time we use our head, Buck."

Buck checked his watch and met Eddie's eyes. "Time to go," he said. "We're going to be late; I'll have Maddie texting me any minute."

Eddie took a step towards him. "Thanks for the folder, and thanks for the baby-sitting," he said. "We'll pick him up at 9am. I'll just run down and say goodbye."

~

Buck was subdued in the car, his hands gripping the steering wheel. Eddie flipped through the binder, hoping to steer him away from another discussion about Bobby. "We really need to make some decisions," he said thoughtfully. "We said July without really thinking it through. You want a garden wedding, right?"

"If that's what you want."

"Baby, I just want to get married to you, I don't care where." He flipped through the pages slowly. "This bakery looks good. We'll sit down on Sunday and make a plan, all right?"

"Start making a guest list. Under fifty people." Buck gave him a sidelong glance. "Think we can do it?"

"Well, we're leaving off a chunk of your family, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but your family is massive."

Eddie grinned. "I won't be inviting all of them. Just the essentials."

"I just want to get married," Buck said, reaching over to change the radio station. "I don't care where. I just want to be your husband."

"You're gonna be, don't worry about that. I've snapped you up." Eddie skipped over the pages with flowers. "God, I feel useless doing this. Neither one of us is interested in this stuff. Hey… maybe I should ask Adriana and Sophia for help? I would ask Maddie but she's going to be very busy soon."

"She did offer, but I said no." Buck tapped his fingers along with the music on the radio, relaxed and happy again. "Sure, ask them. Adriana did tell me to let her know if we needed anything."

Eddie closed the binder and tossed it on the backseat. "Good. I'll call Sophia tomorrow night." He reached out to slide his hand along Buck's thigh and murmured, "Maybe we cut out early tonight."

"Already planned for that; don't you worry."

~~

When they arrived, Chimney ushered them into the house. Monopoly was already set up on the dining room table and Maddie was seated on one of the chairs, a pillow stuffed behind her back, wearing a fuzzy pink robe. She flashed a beaming smile at them and held her arms out so Buck could hug her, kissing him on the cheek.

"Nearly time," he said. "Not long to go now."

"Only a couple of weeks," she agreed, patting her tummy. "Hey – put your hand here. She might kick for you."

He did as he was told, glancing over at Eddie, who had a soft smile on his face. Sure enough he felt movement beneath his fingers and then a firm kick. Maddie jumped, letting out a laugh. "Wow, she's going to have to sign up for soccer or something," he said.

"It's not super fun in the middle of the night," Maddie replied. "How are you guys, anyway?"

Chimney poured them some drinks and set out some food while they caught up, running through the usual list of gossip – Josh was seeing someone new, Hen and Karen were thinking of buying a new car, Bobby and Athena were as loved up as always.

It was when Bobby's name was mentioned that Chimney said to Buck, "Hey, I know you're still pissed about the pot brownie thing. He'll get over it."

Buck shrugged. "He keeps bringing it up," he replied, taking a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the table. "All the time – little digs about it. I know I'm dumb—"

"You're not dumb," Eddie and Maddie said at the same time.

Buck grinned, waving a hand at them. "Listen – I think they're just a couple of dumb teenage girls; they didn't do it maliciously. I think he's pissed that I don't have any more information about them, so he can't press charges."

"But you don't want to press charges anyway," Chimney pointed out.

"No, it was my own stupid fault for eating it."

"You're not stupid," Eddie said again. "We get given stuff all the time; you had no reason to doubt it."

"I'm never eating a baked good ever again," he said firmly. "It's not worth the hard time I'll get about it."

"We all make mistakes," Chimney replied.

"Yeah, but when you make a mistake, he doesn't constantly mention it to everyone, and make you feel like crap," Buck pointed out. "You and Hen can make all the mistakes in the world – when I do it, it's different. I don't know. He doesn't trust me."

Chimney considered him and then said, "You know, when you started with us, I thought you were a cocky little shit."

Buck groaned, folding his arms across his chest, looking away.

"No, listen. Listen to me. You've grown up so much, you know? I mean, I know you've had a rough time of it, with the ladder truck and everything, but… Buck, I've met a _lot_ of firefighters, and you are genuinely one of the best I've ever worked with. You took this job like a duck to water. Totally effortless," he said. "And I mean, you know I love Bobby and I know you do too, but… he's hard on you because unlike the rest of us, you're going to rise through the ranks. We can all see that, Buck."

Buck glanced at Eddie, who smiled at him. "See? Chim thinks so too."

"My advice is to ride this out. Bobby will be over it soon," Chimney said. "I know you're pissed off; I get it. But Buck… I know you know that we've all had it rough."

He nodded silently.

"I'm not downplaying anything, and sure, that… little song and dance he made you perform yesterday was a little over the top, but… he will get over this and things will get better," he said firmly. "You're a great firefighter, Buckaroo. Don't ever forget that."

"You are being unusually nice today, Chimney," Eddie said suspiciously, and they all began to laugh. "What's going on with you? Has impending fatherhood softened you?"

"He was already pretty soft," Maddie teased, reaching out to take Chimney's hand.

~

Buck had never played Monopoly with Eddie before, but he was well versed in Maddie and Chimney's modus operandi and he pulled Eddie aside before the game to fill him in.

"They're going to team up," he said confidentially, as Eddie washed his hands in the kitchen sink. "They always do. If you call them out on it, they will deny and deflect."

Eddie flashed him a grin. "Don't worry."

"Don't _worry_ – Eds, they destroy me every single time we play. That's why they invite me over for this."

"Well, before you didn't have me on your team and now you do. We're a team as well – we won't make moves against each other; we'll have each other's backs. We got this."

Buck had no idea how true that statement was until about half an hour into the game, when Eddie landed on one of the red spaces and immediately offered it to Buck for a discounted price in order to complete his set. Maddie said, "Uh, no," a little sharply, shaking her head. "No."

"What?" Eddie asked. "I paid Chim for the property; now I own it and I'm offering it to Buck. What's the problem?"

"You can't on-sell—"

"Why not?"

"It's not your turn!"

"Nobody else has rolled the dice," he pointed out. "It's still my turn. Buck? You want this or not?"

Buck handed over the money, trying and failing to keep the smile from his face. For the first time ever in a game of Monopoly, he had a matching set and in a decent colour as well.

Maddie and Chimney looked outraged, but as Eddie wasn't technically _wrong_ , just shady, there wasn't anything they could do.

From then the game kicked into high gear. Eddie completed his set – all three green properties – and then traded Buck two train stations for Boardwalk. Maddie let out a squawk of outrage. "Excuse me!"

"Nobody said you couldn't trade," Eddie pointed out.

"But now you two have a monopoly – oh god damn it," she groaned. "You two are teaming up."

"Of course we are," he replied nonchalantly. "It's time for Buck to have a win."

"I had no idea you were such a shark," Chimney said to him, impressed. "It's kind of scary."

Eddie grinned. "I grew up with an older sister and a younger sister; we used to play all the time. I know what I'm doing. Your turn, Chim."

Things took a turn for the worst when Maddie landed on Buck's red properties, which all had hotels on them. "Oh my god," she groaned. "Buck, seriously—"

"Don't cave," Eddie murmured to him. "I know she's your sister, but you got this."

Buck said ruefully, "Sorry Maddie, I'm going to need a lot of money from you."

"This is _ridiculous_ ," she huffed. "I can't believe you've turned on me like this – oh." She made a face, and then pressed a hand to her stomach. _"Oh._ "

"What?" Chimney asked, the game forgotten as he turned to her with concern.

She frowned, and then said, "Nothing… just… huh, I feel weird."

"Weird," Eddie echoed, rising to his feet. "Weird how?"

"I don't know, like… um…" she blinked rapidly, shaking her head. "Funny. Like… I might faint."

"Ambulance," Eddie said to Buck, who rose to his feet, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Eddie hurried around the table to her other side. "We should lie you down," he said to Chimney, who nodded in agreement. "Are you feeling any pain, Maddie?"

"No, just…" she pressed a hand to her head, grimacing. "Oh, I feel weird."

"Here, let me help you up," Eddie said, holding out his hand to her – when she stood, she let out a gasp, there was a noticeable splash on the floor. "Well, your water just broke. You're going into labour, congratulations."

"Oh my god," she said, turning to Chimney wildly. "Oh my god."

"It was the outrage at having lost to Buck," Chimney replied – trying to make a joke to disguise the fact that he was frantic. "Buckaroo, call 911 for us, all right?"

"Already calling," Buck replied, watching as they helped Maddie down onto the floor and tucked a pillow under her head.

Maddie clutched her stomach, throwing her head back. "Oh my god, they never told me it would be this painful!"

As Buck spoke to dispatch in the living room, he could hear Eddie and Chimney trying to calm her down. He was on edge himself, his stomach twisted in knots, trying to stay calm.

"Don't worry Firefighter Buckley," the 911 operator said into his ear. "The 122 is en route now; ten minutes out. She'll be in a hospital bed in no time."

"Thanks," he said, unlocking the front door. "She's got two paramedics here with her, so she's in good hands for now."

There was a wail from the dining room. He hurried back inside and Chimney between Maddie's legs, checking to see how dilated she was. He sat up, and from the look on his face, Buck could tell the news wasn't great. "Okay here's the thing," Chimney said to her. "It's happening really quickly, okay?"

"How quickly?" she demanded, sweat pouring down her face.

"Imminently. You told me you had pains in the stomach this morning – Maddie, have you been in labour all day?"

"It was just like, gas!" she argued. "Not – _oh my god!_ Chim!"

Chimney turned to Buck. "Uh, she's having the baby here. Tell them."

Buck said to the 911 operator, "She's in active labour. Very active."

"Okay, I'll advise them to be ready, and I'll inform the hospital as well."

"Towels," Chimney said to Eddie, who was up like a shot, hurrying down the hallway. "End cupboard, Eddie! Just grab them all!"

"Buck!" Maddie shouted, propping herself up on her elbows, her legs splayed, Chimney between them. "This is all your fault! You and Eddie shouldn't have been so sneaky!"

"I don't think you can blame labour on Eddie and I beating you at Monopoly," he replied, as the 911 operator laughed in his ear.

Eddie returned with a bundle of towels, passing them to Chimney. "What do you want me to do?"

"Monitor her pulse for me, make sure she doesn't pass out – Buck, get over here and hold your sister's hand."

Buck said to the operator as he went to kneel beside Maddie, "I'm just putting you on speaker; not hanging up." He set the phone down on the floor beside them and took Maddie's hand, grabbing a towel from Eddie to wipe the sweat from her brow.

Chimney rested both hands on Maddie's legs and said, "Maddie, I love you. You're ready to start pushing."

"What?" she gasped.

"Yep. It's happening, right now." He smiled at her, looking a little shaky. "Hold Buck's hand as tight as you can, and give me a huge push, all right?"

"You got this," Eddie said to her, his fingers on her wrist, eyes on his watch, monitoring her pulse. "Pulse is strong and steady."

Maddie let out a sob, looking up at Buck wildly. "What if I'm bad at this?"

"You're not going to be, you're going to be awesome," he said, bending over to kiss her forehead. "Come on, let's meet your little girl."

She nodded, bit down on her lip, and pushed, letting out a primal scream. Chimney's hands were between her legs, and he said, "Okay, her head is out – one more big push, Mads! One more!"

Maddie gripped Buck's hand so tightly he feared his bones might break. She bore down again with another scream, and Chimney shouted, "She's out! You did it! I've got her, Maddie, just relax now."

Tears were rolling down Maddie's cheeks. Eddie glanced at her long enough to smile, and said reassuringly, "You did _amazingly._ "

"I thought it was gas," she said to him wonderingly, looking dazed. "I thought I really had to fart, and I couldn't."

He laughed. "Those are the easiest contractions I've ever heard of."

Buck had his eyes on Chimney, who was carefully clearing their baby girl's windpipe. She screwed her face up, balled her fists and let out a hell of a wail. Maddie began to sob, releasing Buck's hand, holding out her arms. "Can I see her?"

Chimney gave her a huge, tearful smile. "She's _wonderful_ ," he said, wrapping her up in a towel. "Here you go baby. Here's mama." He leaned over, placing her on Maddie's chest, trying to control his emotions.

Maddie's whole face lit up like Buck had never seen before. Her little girl's cries settled down into whimpers, and she whispered, "Hi, my darling. Hi sweetheart."

Buck met Eddie's eyes, which were shiny with tears. "Your niece is here," Eddie said to him with a soft smile. "Congratulations, you guys."

~

Buck and Eddie followed them to the hospital. Eddie drove while Buck made some calls – firstly to Bobby and Athena to let them know that Maddie had given birth and what hospital she was at, and the same call to Hen and Karen. He then sent Josh a text with the details, and Adriana, who would definitely need to know, before hovering with his thumb over his parents' number in Philadelphia.

Reluctantly, he placed the call, expecting to hear their voicemail message, but instead his mother answered. "Evan."

"Mom. Just calling to let you know that Maddie had the baby tonight. A little girl. They haven't named her yet. She'll be at Cedars Sinai if you want to send her flowers."

His mother was silent for a few long moments, and then she whispered, "Tonight? Really?"

"Yes. We're en route to the hospital now; Maddie had the baby at home. She and the baby are fine."

"Well, that's wonderful news. Thank you for letting us know, Evan."

"You're welcome. I'll text you her room details when she's all settled in."

"Oh, we'll book flights," she replied. "We'll be there tomorrow or the next day. Perhaps we could see you—"

"No," he cut in. "No. I'll tell Maddie that you'll be flying out to see her. Just wanted to let you know. Hope you and Dad are well. Good night." With that he ended the call, glancing over at Eddie. "She wanted to see me."

"Of course she did." Eddie rolled his eyes. "I wonder how much they'll offer this time. How's your hand?"

Buck held up his left hand, which was surely going to be bruised, and said, "Honestly, it really hurts."

"Yeah, I bet. Give it here."

He held his hand out, and Eddie pressed his lips to Buck's fingers one by one, his eyes trained on the road. "You were great tonight," Buck said to him.

"Well, I am a trained medic—"

"Oh no babe, I meant at Monopoly. They'll never invite us back."

Eddie let out a delighted laugh. "You liked that, huh?"

"Yeah, I was going to let you do dirty things to me when we got home."

"We still can. We'll just make sure Maddie and Chimney are okay and then leave them alone for the night." Eddie glanced at him, arching an eyebrow. "It's only early."

"I'm holding you to that."

Upon arriving at the hospital, they were directed to the maternity ward, where they found Chimney in the hallway, pacing back and forth.

"Everything okay?" Eddie asked with concern.

Chimney glanced up at them. "Yeah. They're just checking them both out and making sure Maddie delivers the placenta. The baby cried all the way here; that's a good sign."

"Yeah, she's gonna be a crier like my sister," Buck replied, holding his arms out. "Congratulations, Dad."

Chimney laughed and wrapped him up in a hug. "Thanks, little brother."

"Next time we play Monopoly, you two don't get out of losing by having another baby," Eddie said dryly. "Buck and I came here tonight to demolish you."

"Yeah, I had a feeling that was more your doing than Buckaroo over here," Chimney teased, releasing Buck with a firm pat to his back. "Can you believe this?"

"No, I really can't," Eddie said, giving Chimney a hug as well. "Good job delivering your kid there, Chim."

"Thanks buddy." Chimney beamed at them both, and then planted one hand on each of their shoulders. "I'm glad you guys were there."

"Kept you calm," Buck replied. "We're good at that."

"Mr Han?" a nurse said from behind them, and Chimney jumped, whirling around. "You can come in now. They're waiting for you."

He practically skipped down the hall and followed her into a room. Eddie slipped his arms around Buck's waist and hugged him from the side, closing his eyes with a smile when Buck wrapped his arms around his shoulders. "Love you," Buck said to him.

"Love you too."

Half an hour later they were invited in for a visit, and a very worn out Maddie gave them a tearful smile. "Meet baby Charlotte."

"That's a beautiful name," Eddie murmured, leaning over beside Buck. "She's gorgeous."

Buck extended a finger to touch her soft cheek and whispered, "Hi Charlotte. I'm going to be the best uncle you ever had."

"Albert might contest you for that," Chimney warned.

"Albert's got nothin' on me."

~~

It was after midnight when they arrived home, after stopping in to grab some dinner from an all-night diner. Eddie was tired and full, but as soon as they were in the house and Buck's lips were on his, he forgot about everything other than the taste of his lips, the feel of him in his arms and the way his heart was beating rhythmically in his chest.

They had enough sense to make it to the bedroom, where they shed their clothes and fell into bed together. Eddie sat down on the bed, up against the pillows, and pulled Buck down into his lap, head tilted up, kissing him desperately. Seeing Buck with a newborn baby – seeing him _hold_ that newborn baby and gaze down at it like it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen – had imprinted in his brain, and he _wanted that_ for them. Wanted to watch Buck raise their kid – god, how amazing would that be? He was still holding back with Christopher; too scared to really parent him. That would take time, as Buck grew into the role, but he couldn’t wait to be there for it – to watch Buck be the amazing husband and father he was always meant to be.

Buck was smiling at him, searching his face with his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," he replied, casting a hand down his back. "You with a baby."

"I can't wait," he whispered, colour flooding his cheeks. "I can't wait, Eds."

"I know. You're going to be great at it, even if we're both going to be tired all the time, and stressed out, and…"

"Yeah, but that's all part of it, and we have each other." Buck kissed him, and then reached for the lube in the bedside drawer. "We've got to make the most of this while we can, though."

Eddie stroked his hands up and down Buck's chest, leaning in to press his lips to his collarbone. "Remember when we first got together and I gave you hickeys all over?"

"Oh yeah, I loved it." Buck flashed him a wicked grin, and then groaned. "But you can't tonight. We're going to the beach tomorrow and I'll want to take my shirt off."

"Christopher might have some questions," he agreed, but couldn't help but bite down a teeny bit just above Buck's nipple. "I still think you should get a nipple ring."

"Yeah, you think that's pretty hot, huh?" Buck pressed the lube into his hand and pushed him back against the pillows, finding his lips in an open, wanton kiss. "I'm gonna ride you, cowboy."

"Oh god," Eddie groaned. "Never call me that."

"You're my Texan cowboy." Buck's eyes lit up. "I'm getting you a cowboy hat for your birthday."

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am, and you're going to wear it, and nothing else. So fucking sexy," he replied, and hissed when Eddie pressed a slicked up finger against his opening. "We're not messing around tonight, are we?"

"Baby, we have less than nine hours until we have to pick up Christopher, and as much as I would dearly love to take you apart until you can't remember your own name, we just don't have time."

"Our long weekend, if Bobby gives it to us," Buck replied, resting his head on his shoulder, sighing as Eddie worked his finger in and out before adding another.

"He'll give it to us; I finished the paperwork. I'll fight for it. And then, when I get you in that hotel room, it's _on._ "

"Fuck yeah it is." Buck lifted his head to kiss him again, moaning when Eddie crooked his finger _just right_.

Satisfied that he was ready, Eddie pulled away long enough to coat himself with lube and then guided Buck's hips down, filling him up slowly. Buck tilted his head back, letting out a long sigh, and smiled when Eddie leaned in to press soft kisses to his neck.

"Good?" he murmured, and Buck nodded, adjusting himself, and then slowly rocking his hips. "Oh god. That's it, baby."

"Mmm." Buck licked his lips, gripping Eddie's shoulder with one hand, the other wrapped around his cock. "I've been dreaming about this."

"Yeah, me too." Sometimes he wanted to close his eyes and just let the feeling wash over him, but he loved to watch Buck when he was on top – loved the way his cheeks filled with colour that travelled down his chest; loved when he twisted his hips and bit down hard on his lip. Loved when his eyes would glaze over; loved when he was close and he couldn't help but make little noises, sighs and moans, gasping every so often.

Loved when he'd lean down to kiss him and whisper, "I love you, Eddie, god, I love you so much."

Loved him, completely, every single little piece.

~

Following some frantic googling early in the morning, Buck settled on a beach about an hour's drive north in Malibu. He fretted that it was going to disappoint Christopher as they drove to Bobby and Athena's, but Eddie said, "Listen – we're about to take him to go see his cousin. That's the high point of today; everything else is a bonus."

Buck relaxed, and flashed him a smile.

Christopher was joyful when they collected him, and spent the car ride to the hospital talking non-stop about all the fun they'd had, and the _awesome_ pizzas Bobby made them for dinner, and the fact that they were allowed to stay up until 11pm watching movies. He sounded back to his normal self, and Eddie was incredibly relieved about that.

"Where are we going?" Christopher asked as the hospital came into view. "I thought we were going to the beach?"

"We are, but we have a surprise for you," Buck said, turning around in his seat to smile at him. "You've got a new cousin."

Christopher's jaw dropped. "Aunty Maddie?"

"Yes, she had a little baby girl last night and we're going to visit her before we go to the beach."

"That's _amazing._ "

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. "We'll stop in at the gift shop on the way to the maternity ward."

~

Buck spent way too much at the gift shop, but that was okay, because he was next-level happy, practically skipping down the hallway with Christopher on his back, clutching a helium balloon filled with other balloons. Eddie followed along behind, holding Christopher's crutches and a bouquet of flowers.

"Hey guys," Chimney whispered when they appeared at the door, ushering them in. "Hey Christopher!"

"Hi," Christopher whispered back, a huge smile on his face.

"Come to meet your cousin, buddy?"

He nodded, still in Buck's arms, and held out the balloon. Chimney laughed and took it from him.

Maddie was in bed, covered with a pink blanket, baby Charlotte in her arms. She smiled sleepily at them. "Hi guys."

"Hey," Buck replied, carrying Christopher around the side of the bed, and setting him down on a chair. He bent over to kiss her cheek. "How'd you go last night?"

"She's great, the baby's great, I'm great – everyone's great," Chimney said, exchanging a grin with Eddie.

"You want to hold her?" Maddie asked, raising her eyebrows at Buck. "Uncle Buck."

"Uncle Buck, I like the sound of that." He held his hands out, and Maddie passed her to him gingerly. Eddie had his phone out, snapping photos as Buck beamed down at his niece. "Hi Charlotte. I'm your Uncle Buck."

"That suits you," Maddie said.

Buck glanced over at Eddie, who took another photo of him. "I like it," he said with a grin, and then turned his attention to Christopher. "Hey buddy, you want to meet your cousin? I'll kneel down next to you so you can see her."

"Okay," Christopher whispered, clapping both hands to his cheeks as he admired her for the first time. "Hi Charlotte. Like _Charlotte's Web._ "

"My favourite book when I was a kid," Maddie said. "Her middle name is Evelyn. Charlotte Evelyn Han."

"It's a combo," Chimney explained. "Ev for Evan, Lyn for my mom."

Buck looked up sharply. "For me?"

"Uh huh," Maddie said, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "You're my baby brother."

He was on the verge of tears, swallowing hard. "Thank you."

Chimney grinned at him. "We thought you'd like that."

A tear slipped down his cheek. "Yeah, I do."

Christopher was leaning over Buck, stroking Charlotte's cheek. "She's tiny," he said to Maddie, who smiled warmly at him. "She's so little."

"She'll be running around before you know it," Eddie said.

"You want to hold her, Eddie?" Maddie asked him. "It's been a long time since you got to hold a baby."

"I'd love to." Buck stood, passing her over to Eddie, taking his phone to snap some photos. Eddie cradled her in his arms, smiling down at her. "She's got your smirk, Chim."

"How dare you – she's beautiful like her mother."

~~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to SevenSoulmates and CNomad for reassuring me on this one. 💖
> 
> [Hush - Glad All Over](https://youtu.be/OgW3OVj4rB8)
> 
> Find me @ Tumblr: [woodchoc-magnum](https://woodchoc-magnum.tumblr.com/)


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